The Rugby Championship kicks off for 2017 this weekend, starting with old foes New Zealand and Australia facing off in a match that doubles as the first of the three-match Bledisloe Cup series. So where will the two matches be played, what time do they kick off, and who will feature?

Magnussen shines again on final night

Another breathtaking swim by James Magnussen took Australia within millimetres of a huge upset over the US in the men's 4x100m medley relay final at the world championships in Shanghai on Sunday.

Magnussen, Hayden Stoeckel, Brenton Rickard and Geoff Huegill (3:32.26) claimed Australia's eighth silver medal on the final night of competition, finishing just two tenths of a second behind a Michael Phelps-led US (3:32.06), the hot favourites, and ahead of Germany (3:32.60).

Australia were almost three-quarters of a second behind the US at the final changeover before Magnussen, the world 100m champion, produced a stunning 47.00-second last leg to almost overhaul US sprinter Nathan Adrian in the closing stages.

The US were without Ryan Lochte after he claimed his fifth gold medal in the 400m individual medley, but the Australian men were thrilled to have closed the gap on the world record-holding Americans.

"With Maggie's back end as strong as it is we all thought we were a chance," Rickard said.

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"You could see him taking centimetres off him at every stroke. We were like `give us one more metre of pool and we'd be right."

"Unfortunately we didn't quite get it but it fills us with a lot of confidence going into next year."

Magnussen said he was still coming down from his victory in the 100m.

"I haven't had as much sleep as I needed. I put in a big effort tonight for the boys and I was pretty happy with my swim," said Magnussen, who led off Australia's victorious 4x100m freestyle relay team.

Australia's other medal on the final night came to Stephanie Rice, who capped an encouraging meet with a bronze medal in the women's 400m individual medley final.

It came after she finished fourth in the 200m individual medley final and fifth in the 200m butterfly final and Rice said she would use her performance as motivation ahead of next year.

"(This meet) is just a stepping stone and I just wanted to sort of be back as part of the team and execute some good races," she said.

"I'm pretty happy with how I've gone, obviously not the outcome I would like at the end of next year ... but I'm going to use that as motivation."

Grant Hackett's decade-old 1500m freestyle world record was finally broken, after Chinese star Sun Yang lowered the mark at the world championships in Shanghai.

Many, including Hackett himself, expected the rising 19-year-old to eclipse the Australian's remarkable 14:34.56 - set at the 2001 world titles in Japan and the oldest remaining record in world swimming - in front of his home crowd.